Further important collections were published in the 20th century. 1984. [10] An instrument called xiantao (), made by stretching strings over a small drum with handle, was said to have been played by labourers who constructed the Great Wall of China during the late Qin dynasty. The biwa strings are plucked with large wooden pick called bachi (, The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. The traditional Satsuma-biwa has 4 strings and 4 frets (Sei-ha and Kinshin-ryu schools), and newer styles have 5 strings and 5 frets (Nishiki and Tsuruta-ryu schools). Lingering, filling the palace hall, spring snow flew. Its purpose is to show in context how the biwa uses its various patterns to color some melodic tones. Example 4 shows the basic melody of Etenraku's section B and C, and its rhythmic accompaniment. [citation needed]. Typically 60 centimetres (24in) to 106 centimetres (42in) in length, the instrument is constructed of a water drop-shaped body with a short neck, typically with four (though sometimes five) strings. [19], Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. In 2015, pipa player Jiaju Shen () released a mini album composed and produced by Li Zong (),[73] with E-pa music that has a strong Chinese flavor within a modern Western pop music mould. This type of biwa, known as the gaku-biwa, was later used in gagaku ensembles and became the most commonly known type. The performers left hand is used both to steady the instrument, with the thumb hooked around the backside of the neck, and to depress the strings, the index finger doing most of the work but sometimes aided by the middle finger. New York, 1903, vol. The Traditional Music of Japan. Other prominent students of Lin Shicheng at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing include Liu Guilian (, born 1961), Gao Hong and Wu Man. Other noted players of the early 20th century include Liu Tianhua, a student of Shen Zhaozhou of the Chongming school and who increased the number of frets on the pipa and changed to an equal-tempered tuning, and the blind player Abing from Wuxi. [42] During the Qing dynasty there originally two major schools of pipathe Northern and Southern schools, and music scores for these two traditions were collected and published in the first mass-produced edition of solo pieces for pipa, now commonly known as the Hua Collection (). Lin Shicheng (; 19222006), born in Shanghai, began learning music under his father and was taught by Shen Haochu (; 18991953), a leading player in the Pudong school style of pipa playing. Because of this bending technique oshikan (), one can make two or three notes for each fret and also in-between notes. The biwa arrived in Japan in the 7th century, having evolved from the Chinese bent-neck pipa (; quxiang pipa),[1] while the pipa itself was derived from similar instruments in West Asia. Popularly used by female biwa players such as Uehara Mari. A. Odaiko B. Taiko C. Tsuridaiko D. Tsuzumi 2. Even though the system has been criticized and revised over the years, it is the most widely accepted system of musical instrument classification used by organologists and . The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. Novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties such as Jin Ping Mei showed pipa performance to be a normal aspect of life in these periods at home (where the characters in the novels may be proficient in the instrument) as well as outside on the street or in pleasure houses.[24]. Seeing its relative convenience and portability, the monks combined these features with their large and heavy gaku-biwa to create the heike-biwa, which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of The Tale of the Heike. Dunhuang, Mogao Caves. [2], Early literary tradition in China, for example in a 3rd-century description by Fu Xuan, Ode to Pipa,[1][28] associates the Han pipa with the northern frontier, Wang Zhaojun and other princesses who were married to nomad rulers of the Wusun and Xiongnu peoples in what is now Mongolia, northern Xinjiang and Kazakhstan. Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. Its classification is a type of an Aerophone. The heike-biwa, smaller than the ms-biwa, was used for similar purposes. The surface of the frets is constantly shaved down by the strings, and one of the most important points in the maintenance of the biwa is to keep the surfaces as flat as possible to get goodsawari. This seeming shortcoming is compensated for by the frets height and the low tension of the strings. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones. Both were pupils of Wang Yuting (18721951), and both were active in establishing and promoting Guoyue ("national music"), which is a combination of traditional regional music and Western musical practices. [21] The pipa underwent a number of changes over the centuries. Written by Nobuko Fukatsu The method of holding the plectrum is different when performing kaeshibachi or kakubachi, and consequently composers need to allow a few seconds for the repositioning of the hand when using the two techniques in sequence. Most prominent among these are Minoru Miki, Thring Brm, YANG Jing, Terry Riley, Donald Reid Womack, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Bun-Ching Lam, and Carl Stone. [20], Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 16, Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 18, Ferranti, Relations between Music and Text in "Higo Biwa", The "Nagashi" Pattern as a Text-MusicSystem 150, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biwa&oldid=1097578427, This page was last edited on 11 July 2022, at 14:28. The biwa may be used to accompany various types of narrative, as part of a gagaku (court music) ensemble, or as a solo instrument. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The basic technique is to pluck down and up with the sharp corner. During the Yuan dynasty, the playwright Gao Ming wrote a play for nanxi opera called Pipa ji (, or "Story of the Pipa"), a tale about an abandoned wife who set out to find her husband, surviving by playing the pipa. Catalogue of the Crosby Brown . The strings are numbered from the lowest (first string) to the highest (fourth string). There is little space between the strings on the first three frets, causing obstruction when attacking an upper string whose immediate lower string is fingered in one of the first three frets. This is due to the fact that the space between the strings on the first three frets is so short that a fingered 1st fret on the 3rd string, for example, would damp the following 4th string, as shown on Figure 7. Western performers of pipa include French musician Djang San, who integrated jazz and rock concepts to the instrument such as power chords and walking bass.[70]. What is known is that three main streams of biwa practice emerged during this time: zato (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind biwa players), shifu (samurai style), and chofu (urban style). Other early known players of pipa include General Xie Shang from the Jin dynasty who was described to have performed it with his leg raised. Heike Biwa (), Medium: He also qualified as a doctor of Chinese medicine. In previous centuries, the predominant biwa musicians would have been blind monks (, biwa hshi), who used the biwa as musical accompaniment when reading scriptural texts. Painted panel of the sarcophagus of Y Hung, depicts one of the Persian or Sogdian figures playing pipa. The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. The peg box is angled about 90 degrees from the neck, and the back of the body is flat, unlike the western lute. A. Biwa B. Koto C. Shakuhachi D. Shamisen 3. [53] The introduction of pipa from Central Asia also brought with it virtuoso performers from that region, for example Sujiva (, Sujipo) from the Kingdom of Kucha during the Northern Zhou dynasty, Kang Kunlun () from Kangju, and Pei Luoer () from Shule. Reflecting its history as an instrument for samurai, its music is often described as dynamic and heroic. Several types of biwa, each with its own social setting and repertoire, have evolved in Japan over the past 1300 years, the specimens pictured here being called most accurately the chikuzen biwa. [13] What the plectrum is made of also changes the texture, with ivory and plastic plectrums creating a more resilient texture to the wooden plectrum's twangy hum. It was originally used by traveling biwa minstrels, and its small size lent it to indoor play and improved portability. In this case, the left hand fourth finger taps the string so that the un-attacked pitch or pitches can be somewhat heard. Although shaped like a Western lute, the Biwa's back is flat and it has a shallower body. The design and construction of the 5-string Chikuzen biwa pictured in gallery #2 is basically the same as for the 4-string model described above except accommodations need to be made to the pegbox (detail #7) and bridge (detail #8) for the additional string. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. Instrument Information Origins. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods. Sort by. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: The Museum's collection of musical instruments includes approximately 5,000 examples from six continents and the Pacific Islands, dating from about 300 B.C. Although no longer as popular as it once was, several chikuzen biwa schools have survived to the present day in Japan and to a lesser extent in Japanese communities abroad (such as in Hawaii). [40] Through time, the neck was raised and by the Qing dynasty the instrument was mostly played upright. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/500681, Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown ; James L. Amerman, The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can now connect to the most up-to-date data and images for more than 470,000 artworks in The Met collection. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. [10] In solo performances, a biwa performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. The sanxian is made in several sizes. The pipa, pp, or p'i-p'a (Chinese: ) is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. String-bending for example may be used to produce a glissando or portamento. greatest depth of resonator In the 9th century the Ms (blind monks') biwa began to be used by blind musicians as an accompaniment to chanted religious texts and sutras. Male players typically play biwa that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children. used only as a drone, and usually tuned to the same note as the third string, making the second the lowest. Since the biwas pegs do not move smoothly, tuning the instrument to a different mode requires time. Upon its arrival, the biwa was used in purely instrumental music in the court culture the instrument appears in various works of literature and art in the 10th -12th centuries, depicting nobles enjoying it in rituals as well as in their private lives. The pipa has also been used in rock music; the California-based band Incubus featured one, borrowed from guitarist Steve Vai, in their 2001 song "Aqueous Transmission," as played by the group's guitarist, Mike Einziger. [62] From the Ming dynasty, famous pipa players include Zhong Xiuzhi (), Zhang Xiong (, known for his playing of "Eagle Seizing Swan"), the blind Li Jinlou (), and Tang Yingzeng () who was known to have played a piece that may be an early version of "Ambushed from Ten Sides".[63]. The instrument's rounded rectangular resonator has a snakeskin front and back, and the curved-back pegbox at the end of the neck has lateral, or side, tuning pegs that adjust three silk or nylon strings. The biwa, considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history; as such, a number of different musical styles played with the biwa exist. Its tuning is C, G, c, g, g. Gaku-biwa, chikuzen-biwa, heike-biwa, ms-biwa, satsuma-biwa and their plectra. Koto 3. [61][33], During the Song dynasty, players mentioned in literary texts include Du Bin (). Waribachi: This is a downward sweeping of the four strings, dividing the motion into two groups of two notes. The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea.It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant.. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. 'five-stringed biwa'), a Tang variant of biwa, can be seen in paintings of court orchestras and was used in the context of gagaku; however, it was removed with the reforms and standardization made to the court orchestra during the late 10th century. It has the largest body and relatively short neck among biwas. [34][57][58] Duan Anjie described the duel between the famous pipa player Kang Kunlun and the monk Duan Shanben () who was disguised as a girl, and told the story of Yang Zhi () who learned how to play the pipa secretly by listening to his aunt playing at night. This instrument was also used many times as an accompanying instrument in larger ensembles. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. In addition, there are a number of techniques that produce sound effects rather than musical notes, for example, striking the board of the pipa for a percussive sound, or strings-twisting while playing that produces a cymbal-like effect. Beginning in the late 1960s, these musicians and composers began to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions; for example, one composer, Tru Takemitsu, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian biwa. The instrument has seen a great decline . The instrument initially used for this practice was the four-stringed chikuzen biwa (gallery #1), which was produced and sold cheaply--a fact attested to by the numbers of such instruments taken overseas by working-class emigrants. (de Ferranti, p. 122) [The instrument pictured in gallery #1 is very likely one of those many biwas taken overseas--it was purchased in a Honolulu shop specializing in Japanese antiques many of which were brought to Hawaii by Japanese immigrants in the early 20th century.] The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. The traditional pieces however often have a standard metrical length of 68 measures or beat,[46] and these may be joined together to form the larger pieces dagu.[47]. Gao Hong graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and was the first to do a joint tour with Lin Shicheng in North America. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play. greatest depth of resonator, multiple (by pressure stopping against fretted fingerboard). In 1956, after working for some years in Shanghai, Lin accepted a position at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. The instrument is plucked with a pick made out of animal horn. the finger and thumb separate in one action), it is called fen (), the reverse motion is called zhi (). Noted contemporary pipa players who work internationally include Min Xiao-Fen, Yang Jin(), Zhou Yi, Qiu Xia He, Liu Fang, Cheng Yu, Jie Ma, Yang Jing(, Yang Wei (),[64] Guan Yadong (), Jiang Ting (), Tang Liangxing (),[65] and Lui Pui-Yuen (, brother of Lui Tsun-Yuen). [51] The music collections from the 19th century also used the gongche notation which provides only a skeletal melody and approximate rhythms sometimes with the occasional playing instructions given (such as tremolo or string-bending), and how this basic framework can become fully fleshed out during a performance may only be learnt by the students from the master. In modern biwa, particularly in Satsuma-biwa, one sometimes strikes the soundboard sharply to get percussive effects. Figure 5 shows examples of harmonic structures of, 2, 3, and 4 pitches in Ichikotsu-ch. The typical 5-stringed Satsuma-biwa classical tuning is: CGCG, from first string to fourth/fifth string, respectively. Its pick or bachi () is the largest among all types of biwa it sometimes used to strike the hard soundboard sharply to create percussive effects, adding a more dynamic flavor to the music. 20002023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern biwa, such as chikuzen-biwa. Malm, William P. 1959. At the beginning of the 13th century, Heike biwa players began telling of tales of the rise and fall of the Taira . There are a number of different traditions with different styles of playing pipa in various regions of China, some of which then developed into schools. The biwa ( Japanese: ) is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The biwa is a four stringed lute and it is approximately 106 cm long (42 inches). The number of frets is considerably fewer than other fretted instruments. [74], Modern pipa player, with the pipa held in near upright position. The fourth and fifth strings, if 5-stringed, are tuned to the same note. [18], As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. 5. Figure 6 shows a spectral analysis of the arpeggio read at the attack and one second later. A new way to classify the acoustical properties of woods and clearly separate these two groups is proposed in this paper. Sheng. The biwa's twangy plucks were most commonly accompanied by a single voice during court performances, but its popularity spread the instrument made its way into religious sermons and oral history . It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). The biwa is a stringed instrument used in Japan as a sort of story telling method. A player holds it horizontally, and mostly plays rhythmic arpeggios in orchestra or ensemble. After almost dying out post-World War II, the tradition was revived in part due to interest shown in the instrument by the internationally known contemporary composer Tru Takemitsu, who wrote instrumental compositions for the instrument. Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection . It is an instrument in China, its mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes. (80 30 3.4 cm), The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889, "Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 35, no. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. The narrative biwa music adopts a relative tuning; the pitch is decided to match with the players range of voice. In the beginning of the Taish period (19121926), the satsuma-biwa was modified into the nishiki-biwa, which became popular among female players at the time. greatest width of resonator This website uses cookies to improve your experience. [44] The first volume contains 13 pieces from the Northern school, the second and third volumes contain 54 pieces from the Southern school. 2008. Each type has different and unique tones, techniques, and musical styles. The fourth/fifth string G is an octave higher than the second string G. Again, note this is relative tuning; it could be AEAE, GDGD, etc, depending on the players range of voice. [21] For example, masses of pipa-playing Buddhist semi-deities are depicted in the wall paintings of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang. Shamisen. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones, its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument. During the 1950s, the use of metal strings in place of the traditional silk ones also resulted in a change in the sound of the pipa which became brighter and stronger. In all biwa styles, except for Gaku-biwa (, please refer to the section Types of Biwa), fingers are positioned between the frets, not on the frets. Pipa is also an important component of regional chamber ensemble traditions such as Jiangnan sizhu, Teochew string music and Nanguan ensemble. After having arrived in Japan via the Silk Road for purely instrumental music, the biwa evolved over time into a narrative musical instrument. Of the remaining post-war biwa traditions, only higo-biwa remains a style almost solely performed by blind persons. [2][29] Wang Zhaojun in particular is frequently referenced with pipa in later literary works and lyrics, for example Ma Zhiyuan's play Autumn in the Palace of Han (), especially since the Song dynasty (although her story is often conflated with other women including Liu Xijun),[30][29] as well as in music pieces such as Zhaojun's Lament (, also the title of a poem), and in paintings where she is often depicted holding a pipa. Biwa playing has a long history on Kyushu, and for centuries the art was practiced within the institution of ms, blind Buddhist priests who performed sacred and secular texts for agrarian and other rituals. Chikuzen biwa music is narrative music much beholding to narrative shamisen music. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item, Title: [14], Biwa usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. [25] Extra frets were added; the early instrument had 4 frets (, xing) on the neck, but during the early Ming dynasty extra bamboo frets (, pn) were affixed onto the soundboard, increasing the number of frets to around 10 and therefore the range of the instrument. His well-received compositions, such as November Steps, which incorporated biwa heikyoku with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the biwa and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and enka to shin-hougaku and gendaigaku. [29], There are many references to pipa in Tang literary works, for example, in A Music Conservatory Miscellany Duan Anjie related many anecdotes associated with pipa. There were originally two major schools of pipa during the Qing dynastythe Northern (Zhili, ) and Southern (Zhejiang, ) schoolsand from these emerged the five main schools associated with the solo tradition. For example, a piece like "The Warlord Takes off His Armour" is made up of many sections, some of them metered and some with free meter, and greater freedom in interpretation is possible in the free meter sections. The encounter also inspired a poem by Yuan Zhen, Song of Pipa (). Jiaju Shen from The Either also plays an Electric 5 String Pipa/Guitar hybrid that has the Hardware from an Electric Guitar combined with the Pipa, built by an instrument maker named Tim Sway called "Electric Pipa 2.0". The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710-794). Exploiting the sound of the open strings increases the overall sounds volume. The pipa is held in a vertical or near-vertical position during performance, although in the early periods the instrument was held in the horizontal position or near-horizontal with the neck pointing slightly downwards, or upside down. Biwa music is based on a pentatonic scale (sometimes referred to as a five-tone or five-note scale), meaning that each octave contains five notes. The body is narrower and smaller than the other types of biwa. The pipa is one of the most popular Chinese instruments and has been played for almost two thousand years in China. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. [citation needed], In 2014, an industrial designer residing in the United States Xi Zheng () designed and crafted an electric pipa "E-pa" in New York. Although this instrument is quite large and a very substantial plectrum is used to excite its strings, its sound is surprisingly soft and meant more for intimate settings rather than concert halls. Chikuzen-biwa is another major type of biwa that is widely played today. Different sized plectrums produced different textures; for example, the plectrum used on a ms-biwa was much larger than that used on a gaku-biwa, producing a harsher, more vigorous sound. Typically, the duration of each group subdivides the measure into two equal durations. It produces distinctive ichikotsuch () and hyj (). During the 1910s a five-string model was developed that, since the 1920s, has been the most common form of the instrument (gallery #2). 2. There are 4-string and 5-string biwas, both with 5 frets, and the soundboard is made from soft paulownia wood. Chikuzen was an historic northern province on Kyushu, the southern-most main island of Japan. ________. Members of these schools are sighted and include both females and males. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. The short neck has four raised frets, each one specifically assigned to one of the left hand fingers. Because of this tradition as a narrative music, the biwa is mostly played solo and is less commonly played with other types of instruments, except in gagaku () or the court orchestra where it is used in its original instrumental role, and in modern instrumental repertoire. One of the biwa's most famous uses is for reciting The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (11851333). The strings on a biwa range in thickness, with the first string being thickest and the fourth string being thinnest; on chikuzen-biwa, the second string is the thickest, with the fourth and fifth strings being the same thickness on chikuzen- and satsuma-biwa. Modern biwa used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, Credit Line: Like the heike-biwa, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. The da and xiao categories refer to the size of the piece xiao pieces are small pieces normally containing only one section, while da pieces are large and usually contain multiple sections. Continent: Asia. Australian dark rock band The Eternal use the pipa in their song "Blood" as played by singer/guitarist Mark Kelson on their album Kartika. Players from the Wang and Pudong schools were the most active in performance and recording during the 20th century, less active was the Pinghu school whose players include Fan Boyan ().